Schools and Bridges Collapsing in Sicily: Thanks Mafia!

It’s near Mezzojuso, 25 miles from Palermo. It cost more than Euros 200 million – at least, that’s what the taxpayer forked out for it.

The actual materials and work, no doubt, cost far less. I don’t know if the contractor was one of the many business in Sicily which are actually Mafia Inc., but it was certainly built by one of the many companies which uses far cheaper materials than those in the specifications, and cuts corners in the construction process to save time and spend less money than they have been allocated for the job.

This occurred just 3 years after the whole building was supposedly refurbished and repaired, according to inspectors’ reports. Yet the teachers say the classroom was last painted in the 1980’s… which was possibly before many of the children’s parents were even born.

Some people tell me there is corruption everywhere, and that Sicily is no different from the rest of Europe, where scams and swindles also take place.

People will cry “propaganda” but honestly, much more effective management under Putin. The corruption is still widespread, but now it is on TOP of money being invested in infrastructure and social services and such 🙂

I do know that the existing political powers do NOT want to lose their access to EU funds, which they can spend giving overpriced contracts to their friends and relatives etc, so they all pull together – left and right wing – to oppose and block politicians who want to change everything and end corruption. The civil servants and all admin workers unite with the elected politicians and un-elected losing candidates in this, which means there is a total wall of opposition in front of anti-corruption politicians.
I don’t know if this is what happened to Crocetta but if he sincerely wanted to end corruption (and some politicans only pretend) then this is the level of opposition he would have faced.

That’s true, It seems everyone is ready with an excuse and nobody takes personal responsibility or blame any more.
The thing that particularly gets me about Sicily is that they claim to be devout Christians and are always ready to assume a “holier than thou” attitude when I tell them I’m an atheist, yet my morals and personal code of behaviour are far more “Christian” than theirs seem to be.
I never break rules because I know it’s wrong, not because I’m afraid of getting caught.

Oh yes I know what you mean. I know someone here who is not just a christian, but a “the old testament is 100% true” christian, yet works half time and receives monetary compensation for the rest from the government because she has no mother and has to take care of her 2 mentally ill sisters. In reality she almost never visits them, happily lives her own materialistic life, goes to church every sunday with absolutely no bad conscience, and then frequently preaches her religious nonsense to the rest of us, especially those whom she sees as easy subjects.

I think there is corruption everywhere, but the big difference in Italy and in particular Sicily is very few end up in jail.

Unfortunately if the law isn’t enforced few people will naturally obey the law. A classic example is the Swiss Italian border, on the swiss side everybody (including the Italians) attempt to drive within the speed limit. As soon as they cross into Italy very few attempt to drive within the limit including the Germans and Swiss. We all know the Italian police wont fine us and the speed cameras are probably broken

Sometimes I think countries are like groups of children. Sometimes they’re responsible, can be trusted, and can take care of themselves for the most part. Other times they’re just the opposite and need someone in charge (who they obviously won’t like) to keep telling them what to do and not to do in order to protect them from themselves.

It is sad that the ones who pay for such shoddy work are the little kids being injured and poor people who need to go to their jobs but can not because of sub-standard roads. The real culprits never seem to pay.

Machiavelli opined something like ‘power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely’; it is a human trait. Detroit, Michigan for instance is one of the prime examples of blatant and unbridled corruption, so ubiquitous and endemic that it was one of the primary factors for driving the city into bankruptcy. In 1997 on the 30th anniversary of the riot the New York Times reported that Detroit had not yet recovered from the devastation with blighted and burned out neighborhoods left to deteriorate and commercial properties never rebuilt. Today 48 years later the ongoing processes of cultural destruction continue leaving Detroit with innumerable areas of environmentally poisoned land and compromised empty spaces; parcels of waste now known as “brownfields”. State and municipal taxes have not been paid on these parcels of land for years as they are clearly commercially undesirable given their “unimproved state”. Today the properties are a social and political burden unparalleled in scope. The sheer numbers of such sites found within the 359 square kilometers comprising Detroit are staggering and another major contributing factor to the city’s bankrupt state. Decades of political corruption and malfeasance as well as indifference on every level have contributed to the decline and moribund statw of Detroit, a dangerous place to live, to work, or to visit. And all this after Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society machine poured zillions of dollars into the restoration of post-riot Detroit. Go figure.

Very interesting parallels with Sicily there – and confirms my firm belief that pouring money into the “improvement” and “development” of a corrupt region merely empowers the corrupt politicians even more.
Many of Sicily’s urban town centres are full of mouldering “browfield” pockets (for entirely different reasons from Detroit) too.

Exactly! And even when the government identifies the honest construction companies who could be trusted to do a good job, the Mafia threaten them till they withdraw their tender and decline to do the project…. so you’re back to hiring Mafia Inc. or nothing!!!!

You should all Google: Ai WeiWei’s She lived happily on this earth for seven years.
The Chinese government built poor quality schools that fell apart during an earthquake and killed many children. He was outraged and tried through his art to show the world. The installation is done with children’s backpacks and spells out what the girl’s mother said about her dead daughter! Your photo in the school could have turned out like that. Unfortunately, that’s what it takes sometimes to start a revolution. Doesn’t sound like Sicily cares about killing a few kids.

Wow, I Googled that and found some really moving and shocking art to commemorate the dead children.
The local school really could easily have ended up the same way. SO many people convince themselves that embezzling government funds or commercial corruption and fraud are victimless crimes.

And 9000 Chinese children died!! I guess in a country with 1.2 billion people-no one cares. Sad. I do wish you the best in dealing with Sicily. 100 years since my grandparents left and I can see why. It takes strength (and some might say (i apologize) stupidity) to stay there. I am a wimp.If my kid’s school fell apart like that, I would be bouncing right on out of there.